Prodigal
by dragonflybeach
Summary: Benny chose to stay behind in Purgatory because he felt he didn't belong anywhere. He meets someone else who feels the same way.


"Go on. It's me they want. Go on. You just make sure you tell Dean I said goodbye. I was never any good up there anyway."

"Benny, wait!"

He paused and looked back just long enough to catch the bone knife Sam tossed his way, barely caught the way Sam's head snapped around to look at something off in the forest to his left before diving into the fight with his former comrades.

The blue flash behind him announced Sam's departure back to the land of the living.

He swung the knife and his fists and bit and kicked until they all fell into a pile at the base of the tree. When the dust cleared, Benny was the only one still attached to his skull.

That didn't mean Benny came out unscathed by any stretch of the imagination. There was a blade in his arm and a chunk of his left flank barely still attached. His left foot hung at an angle never intended by nature, and something had hit his head hard enough to cause black around the edges of his vision.

Benny pulled himself backwards to lean against the tree, panting, stretching his wounded leg out in front of him.

He caught the faintest motion in the edge of the trees where Sam had looked before he left, along with the slightest trace of scent in the air.

Amazon.

"If you're waiting for the prime opportunity to attack, this would be it." He called to the general direction.

A blonde head peeked out from around a tree, and a moment later, the rest of her came into view. It was a young one, looked like a human teenager, and she was alone.

Which was not the way Amazons went about, at all.

She stepped into the clearing, looking around, with a rock clutched in her hand. She held herself as if she was afraid, and searching for something.

Something wasn't right with this one.

She cautiously crossed the open grass until she stood just beyond arm's length from the injured vampire.

"Where's the rest of your tribe?" He drawled, looking up at her, rather than around at the trees, where others should have been coming forth.

She didn't answer, still looking around, but never completely turning her back to Benny.

"Whacha looking for, sugar?" he asked.

"I heard ... " She looked down at the ground, as if examining the footprints barely visible in the leaves and vegetation. "I thought there was a human here."

She looked confused, frightened, disappointed, and a tad bit angry. Her face was dirty and her long hair knotted, but she was still obviously a very pretty young lady.

"If you were hoping to hitch a ride back topside, you missed the bus." Benny informed her. "Or were you thinking that it was the hunter that killed you, and hoping to get a little revenge by killing him?" He arched an eyebrow.

The girl stared at him for a moment, before her shoulders slumped and she shook her head, dropping her gaze to a spot between them and toeing at the ground with a sneaker covered foot. "I really don't know what I thought." She answered softly.

"Where's the rest of your tribe?" he repeated.

"I don't ... " she sighed. "I don't belong to a tribe. I failed my mission."

"You didn't kill your father?" he clarified.

She didn't reply, which was as good as a verbal confirmation.

"So whacha gonna do now, darlin'?" he prodded gently.

She clenched her jaw and the fists, grinding the edges of the rock into dust. She blinked and clamped her lips together, obviously fighting back tears.

"It's okay, darlin'," he told her gently. "Just sit down and tell me about it."

She looked at him sharply, almost as if she had forgotten he was there. She took a sudden step backwards, her foot coming down on an axe that had been dropped in the fight. She tottered for a moment, struggling to regain her balance, before she landed on her hands and knees.

"I won't hurt you, sugar." he promised, his voice smooth and low.

"I don't belong here!" she wailed, raising up on her knees and flinging the rock down into the dirt in frustration. "I don't belong here, I don't belong with my tribe, I don't belong with my father, I don't belong anywhere!"

The tears spilled out with a strangled cry and she swiped at them angrily, leaving clean streaks in her dusty face.

"I know, darlin'." he said reassuringly, scooting a few inches closer to her. "I know exactly what you're talking about. I'm a vampire who doesn't want to kill people. I don't belong with the other vampires, and I sure don't belong with the humans."

She looked up at him curiously.

"How ... " Her eyes shifted from Benny to the pile of corpses nearby.

"Darlin', they were trying to kill me, and they didn't want to talk about it reasonably." he shrugged. "But up top, I didn't feed on humans. I drank donated blood, or animals if I had to."

"I could have killed him," she said softly, with a glaze over her eyes that left Benny wondering if she was talking to him or herself. "I planned out this whole speech, telling him that I didn't want to be like them, so it would throw him off guard. Make him put down his weapons, leave him vulnerable so I could kill him. But the thing was, when I was saying it, I realized that it was what I wanted. I didn't want to be part of the tribe, to go out every other year and sleep with a guy who would be dead before the week was out, so I could give birth to a baby I would never see again. I was confused and I hesitated instead of attacking and his brother killed me."

Benny didn't respond, just nodded.

She looked at him with wide hazel eyes and her lip quivered. "Amazons aren't supposed to be alone. I don't know what to do."

He smiled gently at her, scooting a little closer so he could lay his hand on her arm. "Well, I'll tell you what you're gonna do for now, Miss Emma. You're gonna stick with your Uncle Benny, and we'll take care of each other until you figure it out." He huffed in amusement. "And if your daddy ends up back down here again, which wouldn't surprise me a bit, we'll find him."


End file.
